ALTAMONT – Sixteen top-three finishes, including seven first-place marks, helped the Vandals place second at Altamont on Tuesday.

The boys track team would have had an opportunity to win the meet had it been able to field a team in the 4X400-meter relay, but all but two of its athletes had already participated in the maximum of four events.

That isn’t typical for most track teams from schools the size of Vandalia, but with only 11 members, every athlete’s efforts, and points, count.

Howard and Carol Koester of Brownstown will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with an open house hosted by their children from 2-4 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, at Liberty Christian Church, Brownstown.

A bid for the construction of an all-weather track at Vandalia Community High School was approved by the school board on Monday.

The bid, which came from National Erectors in Highland, was $502,500, slightly higher than the $500,000 the school received in funding.

It had been higher, but the school opted to cut out some less important features, including paving the walkway between the high school and junior high school, asphalting the gravel area near the ticket window and some of the reworked fencing.